Will Robotic Baristas Be the New Normal?

Restaurants have integrated digital elements for several years now. Between interactive ordering kiosks or delivery service apps, the ordering and dining experience has become continually less personal.

The kitchen has always been technologically advanced, and now customers are getting a firsthand look. Futurist and LinkedIn Top Voice on Tech Cathy Hackl shared this video explaining how people at Cafe X in San Francisco, California can receive a robot-made cup of coffee today.

Customers can order their drinks on the Cafe X app on their smartphone or do so in-store on a digital touchscreen. According to Hackl, the robotic barista serves close to 300 cups of coffee each day and Cafe X has since expanded to several more locations across California. The coffee shop opened in January 2017.

You can see Hackl’s full commentary on the experience here.

For the latest hospitality news, head to our industry page! You can also follow us on Twitter @HospitalityMKSL. Be sure to join the conversation in our Market Leaders LinkedIn group here!

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

team
How Cross-Team Collaboration Becomes the Difference Between Failure and Recovery
January 29, 2026

In modern software organizations, success is often measured by what happens when carefully laid plans suddenly unravel. Late-night deployments, complex integrations, and large-scale data migrations are high-risk moments where even a small oversight can threaten months of work. When failures strike at these critical junctures, teams are forced to move beyond playbooks and into…

Read More
salesforce
Advocacy in Action: How CG Infinity’s Salesforce Practice Puts Clients at the Center of Delivery
January 29, 2026

In today’s enterprise tech landscape, successful Salesforce implementations hinge less on shiny features and more on how well partners align with the real, day-to-day needs of the business. The firms that stand out are the ones that treat delivery as a shared mission—where strategy, execution, and accountability are woven together from the first conversation…

Read More
AI adoption strategy
Field Service Growth Depends on Leading With People, Not Just Technology
January 29, 2026

Skilled trades are facing accelerating retirements, rising customer expectations, and rapid advances in AI—putting the field service industry at a critical inflection point. Industry estimates suggest millions of frontline roles could go unfilled over the next decade, even as technology promises to automate more tasks than ever before. The stakes are high: decisions made now…

Read More
commercial leadership
Why Hotel Performance Depends on Commercial Leadership Across Sales, Marketing, and Revenue
January 28, 2026

The hospitality industry is in the middle of a structural shift toward commercial leadership. Titles like “commercial leader” and “commercial strategy” have gone from buzzwords to necessities as hotels face tighter margins, rising distribution costs, and increasingly fragmented demand. Post-pandemic recovery, accelerated digital marketing spend, and a surge in new supply have forced owners…

Read More